Dismal swamp fire smokey sunset

[Trey45]

Some of you probably know that the swamp is on fire here, it's far enough away from where I live that there's no threat from the fire, however we're getting a lot of smoke and ash here. Smoke makes for some pretty spectacular sunsets, and crepuscular rays during the day, here's a selection of my favorites from the last few days.

This one is crepuscular rays peeking through smoke during the day.


Assorted sunsets from this past week.





We've had rain the last 2 days, finally, so hopefully that will clear the air and help them with the fire. The news said they brought in some high pressure pumps to bring canal water to the fire at a rate of 800,000 gallons per hour.

[troyboy]

Nice pictures. It has been miserable here. It was so thick here this morning woke up with a headache. Just how does a swamp catch on fire?

[lbaize3]

We frequently have marsh fires here in Southeast Texas, along the Gulf Coast. Lots of smoke and even ashes in the swimming pool. So I do understand... I will follow your lead and get some pictures next time...
Leonard

[Trey45]

Troy, they said it was started by a lighning strike on august 4th and been burning since.

[GL49]

Crepuscular. Had to look up that one.

[Artful]

Nice pics, even with the worst - you can find some good if you look hard enough.

[mongo]

Nice pics. My kid brother lives in Camden NC. Last visit was in October of last year and there was a lot of smoke then, He said the swamp was on fire. This aint the same fire? He did say that it had been smolthering for a few months and with a north wind the smoke is everywhere.

[Trey45]

Different fire back in october, that was the Alligator River fire.

[Wayne Smith]

Hummhh! All I'm getting is unbreathable air and ash on my car!

[Echo]

Crepuscular. I like it...

[Freightman]

Nice pictures! We have those sunsets every day but it isn't caused from smoke just natural. The sunset shot in the Last Crusade (Indiana Jones ) was taken about 30 miles from the house.

[gnoahhh]

Nice pics! We could smell it up here in Annapolis. I walked out the door and wondered who the heck was burning coal.

[psj12]

Smoke was up in Harford county MD on saturday.

[10 ga]

It was really smokey, like thick acid fog, all the way up to Tappahannock on RT 360 and 17. Saturday, Sunday and some anytime the wind is SSE to SE. The fire is well over 100 mi. away. My daughter lives a block off rte 58 between Suffolk and Holland and she is getting very thick smoke, purple air quality alert area, and regular ash falling. Guess she is about 15 miles from the fire. There is a lot of downed trees from Hurricane Isabel back in 03 and that is providing a lot of ground fuel. It'll probably burn until the groundwater table rises to put it out. The peat and stumps and such will smoulder for months. I remember this stuff happening in the great dismal back in the 50+60s. Been happnin for thousands of years. 10

[Wayne Smith]

They are currently pumping thousands of gallons of water from lake Drummond uphill to the canals above the fire in an attempt to flood the swamp and put out the fire. We'll see how that works. May be the best chance yet.

[Dark Helmet]

Cough,cough- somebody tell'em to pump faster

[Wayne Smith]

I think they said over 5800 acres and 10% contained this AM.

[fishnbob]

We have been getting smoke and smell here in Appomattox for about a week. I blamed it on the machine shop down the road until I saw it on TV. The smell was sickening.

[Springfield]

So, are we going to start seeing stories about alligators being where they don't belong as they flee the fire?

[felix]

Lots of dust from the plains go to Houston. Red dust is most usual. Happens every year, but mostly not realized unless the cars are painted red enough by the dirt. ... felix